Sustaining School Mental Health Services. Donna Behrens, Barbara Parks and Mark Sander at the Annual Conference on Advancing School Mental Health, October 4, 2013.
Despite the unmet need, the growing bodies of research, and increased political support, barriers have persisted that limit the expansion of school mental health. Financing is repeatedly cited as one of the barriers. This workshop offers insight into ways school mental health might utilize a financial planning approach for building sustainable school-based services and will highlight Minneapolis, Minnesota and Washington DC’s school mental health program as an example of two programs that developed funding strategies utilizing a combination of Medicaid, other third party reimbursements and local and state grant funds.

A Business Plan for Sustaining School Mental Health. Donna Behrens and Barbara Parks at the National School-Based Health Care Convention, June 25, 2013.
Despite documented benefits, barriers continue to limit expansion of school mental health services and financing is cited as a reason. This workshop will highlight three school mental health programs, common elements of their successful business plans and an in-depth view of Washington DC’s school mental health program’s funding strategy.

Children’s Mental Health Policies and Funding Arrangements From State and Local Perspectives. Olga Price and Donna Behrens at the Children’s Mental Health Research and Policy Conference, March 5, 2013.
This presentation will examine children’s mental health policies and funding arrangements from state and local perspectives. The first paper describes mental health policies and financing arrangements in 11 states, with implications for access and quality; the second describes funding strategies for three long-lived, community-based, school mental health programs.

Sustaining Comprehensive Interventions: Maximizing the Benefits of a Public Health Approach. Olga Price and Donna Behrens at the Safe Schools/ Healthy Students Leadership Academy, January 24, 2013.
This session focused on lessons derived from a variety of school-connected programs and practical tips on how to sustain and advance mental health interventions conducted in and around schools. Presenters will utilize the public health model and describe appropriate programs, opportunities for partnering/collaborating, and strategies for sustaining care across the three tiers of intervention.

2012

Children’s Oral Health Access: What We’re Learning; What We’re Doing. Julia Lear, Kate Keller, and Erica Snow at the National School-Based Health Care Convention, June 25, 2012.
This session provided background on (1) the reasons low-income children’s access to oral health care has been slow to increase, and (2) the challenges and opportunities for SBHCs in addressing children’s oral health needs as experienced by two foundation-supported programs. This presentation provided highlights from two CHHCS studies: “Children’s Oral Health: Views from the field” and “Oral Health Care in SBHCs: A report from a US DHHS conference,” November 2010.

Life Lessons: Pitfalls and Promises in Building Education-Health Partnerships. Julia Lear at the National Coordinating Committee on School Health and Safety Annual Meeting, June 8, 2012.
The presentation reflects on continuing efforts to build stronger, more effective partnerships between the k – 12 education and children’s health fields. Three key points: partnerships are essential; they are really hard to create and sustain, and broader research on partnerships and how they work can help health and education be better partners. NCCSH can be an important facilitator in this work.

Overcoming Stigma About Mental Health Services: Some Key Lessons for Working with Refugee and Immigrant Families. Donna Behrens at the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting and Exposition, October 31, 2011. Part 1, Part 2Stigma about mental illness is often reported as a barrier to providing school mental health services to refugee and immigrant children. The presentation describes how mental health professionals can inadvertently increase stigma bout their services, even as they are striving to reduce it and three successful cultural adaptations that prevent school mental health services from being stigmatizing.

Overcoming Stigma About Mental Health Services: Some Key Lessons for Working with Refugee and Immigrant Families. Donna Behrens at the 16th Annual Conference on Advancing School Mental Health, September 23, 2011. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3Stigma about mental illness is often reported as a barrier to providing school mental health services to refugee and immigrant children. The presentation describes how mental health professionals can inadvertently increase stigma bout their services, even as they are striving to reduce it and three successful cultural adaptations that prevent school mental health services from being stigmatizing.

Pivoting on School Behavioral Health: Promising Avenues. Evelyn Frankford and Olga Acosta Price at the 16th Annual Conference on Advancing School Mental Health, September 23, 2011.
The current fiscal crisis facing states and school districts has many school mental health supporters concerned about the probable reduction of services and programs for our most vulnerable populations. This session will explore federal and state policies that hold promise for increasing the number, quality, and sustainability of school-connected mental health interventions. A case study of developments in Massachusetts will be provided.

Emotional/Behavioral Health: Imperative to Health. Olga Acosta Price at the Mental Health Summit as part of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s Policy Conference, Washington DC. September 13, 2011.
This brief presentation describes the importance of considering the public mental health benefits of a school-connected approach. Talking points available upon request.

School-Based Health Centers Oral Health: Keys to Success. Julia Graham Lear at the National School Based Health Care Convention, June 28, 2011.
This workshop makes the case for integration of comprehensive oral health care into school-based health centers, exploring the why and how of oral health care inclusion. The presentation discusses who might be school-based health center partners in oral health care and what roles partners play in the provision of comprehensive oral health services.

Assessing, Developing, and Maintaining Quality School Mental Health Services for Immigrant and Refugee Students. Olga Acosta Price and Kristen Huffman-Gottschling at the National School Based Health Care Convention, June 28, 2011.
Developments in quality improvement activities have advanced our understanding of successful school mental health programs and services. In this session, presenters discuss traditional strategies used to ensure high quality school-based services, offer caution about using these strategies when implementing mental health services for members of immigrant and refugee communities, and share the organizational factors shown to promote culturally responsive and effective care among new Americans.

Mental Health Services for Immigrant and Refugee Students: Innovations and Cultural Adaptations. Donna Behrens and Olga Acosta Price at the Maryland Assembly on School-Based Health Care Annual Conference, May 19, 2011.
Immigrant and Refugee Mental Health: The Role of School Health Based on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded demonstration project, Caring Across Communities, this presentation covers the challenges of providing mental health services in schools to immigrant and refugee students as well as suggestions for cultural adaptations that ensure interventions provided in schools are culturally reflective and responsive. Additional resources are also given. The Role of School Health Based on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded demonstration project, Caring Across Communities, this presentation covers the challenges of providing mental health services in schools to immigrant and refugee students as well as suggestions for cultural adaptations that ensure interventions provided in schools are culturally reflective and responsive.

The Impact of Mental and Physical Wellness on School Success of Diverse Learners. Olga Acosta Price, Patricia Doran, Howard Straker and Amy Mazur at the Council for Exceptional Children, April 28, 2011.
This session addresses the impact of mental and physical wellness on academic success, particularly for culturally and linguistically diverse exceptional students. The panel provides multiple perspectives on cultural, legal, and socioeconomic factors impacting mental and physical wellness, and makes recommendations for a school-wide collaborative approach to support diverse learners.

In Search of New Models of Healing: The Role of Schools in Immigrant and Refugee Health. Lisa Belanger and Donna Behrens at the National Assembly on School-Based Health Care Annual Conference. July, 2010.
Caring Across Communities, a national demonstration funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, addressed the mental health needs of vulnerable children, youth, and their families with an emphasis on the unique needs of newly arrived populations. In recognition of the challenges of providing effective and culturally responsive mental health services to immigrant and refugee youth and their families, a number of innovative school-based approaches were piloted in communities around the country. This presentation details some important lessons for practitioners and program developers invested in school-connected mental health services for immigrant and refugee students and their families.

Understanding the Emotional/Behavioral Health Needs of Children and Youth. Olga Acosta Price at the 9th Annual DC Counselors Multicultural Competencies Training, May 14, 2010.
This keynote presentation describes a number of pressing social determinants of health and success impacting young DC residents and outlines the role of school-based mental health programs in enhancing positive outcomes among public school students.

Children’s Mental Health in Schools: Emerging Opportunities. Olga Acosta Price and Julia Graham Lear. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. April 26, 2010.
An estimated one in 10 children and adolescents have a mental health problem but only 25% of those affected get the care they need. Schools offer an excellent opportunity to promote emotional well-being and overcome barriers to care when problems occur. Information on how schools are organized, who is in charge of what, where health services – especially mental health care – fit in, and opportunities to build stronger community supports for children and their families are described.

The Future Is Now: Supporting the Needs of Immigrant and Refugee Children at School.
Julia Graham Lear at the School Health Interdisciplinary Program Conference, August 3, 2009.
This presentation summarizes recent immigration trends nationally and in the state of Maryland. It also describes several projects the Center has been working through the RWJF Caring Across Communities initiative. These projects have created a range of services and interventions that address both the academic and emotional needs of children and they offer lessons that all can use.

Children’s Health and Children’s Schools — A Perfect Match; A Challenging Fit. Julia Graham Lear at the Colorado Health Forum, August 1, 2009.
If health policymakers and professionals are to collaborate with schools to build effective school-based programs, they need to know how schools work & how education perspectives impact health programming at school. New partnerships between schools and health programs have emerged in a number of communities that demonstrate how productive collaborations can be launched and sustained.

Health Care Reform: Opportunities for School Based Health Centers. Donna Behrens at the National Assembly on School-Based Health Care annual conference. June 2009.
With a President that is resolved and committed to true health care reform, powerful leaders in both the House and Senate passionate and determined, the rising concerns, fears and frustrations of consumers and businesses about the rising health care cost, and early indications of success in some state level reform initiatives, it seems there may be both the will and the stomach to truly reform our current health care system in a meaningful way. This presentation reviews briefly health care reform in the United States, the key relevant pieces of CHIPRA and the Mental Health Parity Act, key elements most likely be included in a health care reform and the opportunities and the challenges for SBHCs in a future reformed health care system.

How School-Connected Mental Health Programs Are Including Parents and Why It Matters. Julia Graham Lear at the National Assembly on School-Based Health Care annual conference. June 2009.
From 2007 through 2010, with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 15 projects across the U.S. developed school-connected mental health programs to meet the needs of immigrant and refugee children. Recognizing that effective programs must include immigrant and refugee communities and families as partners, the projects explored strategies for engaging parents and building their insights into program services. This presentation provides a lessons-learned summary from the 15 sites as well as challenges and opportunities experienced.

Building Successful School-Health Partnerships: Meeting the Challenges of Working Across Systems.
Julia Graham Lear at the Grantmakers in Health Conference, May 29, 2009.
If health organizations are to provide prevention or treatment services in school, they must form successful partnerships with schools. While schools and health organizations share a commitment to children’s well-being, they have profoundly different organizational structures and operate in very different political environments. The presentation explains how the systems differ and how good partnership practices can overcome differences.

The Future of School-Based Mental Health: School Mental Health Services for Latinos. Olga Acosta Price at the DC Mental Health Association Annual Conference, May 13, 2009. Drawing on an extensive report on the development of school mental health services in DC and on lesson learned from a national RWJF-funded initiative, this presentation outlines the barriers and benefits to school-connected mental health care for a diverse DC public school population.

Infrastructure Development: Best and Promising Practices. Olga Acosta Price at the DC Mental Health Association Annual Conference, May 13, 2009.
Informed by over 100 interviews with DC stakeholders and national experts in school mental health, this presentation summarizes recommendations for future directions in practices, policies, and systems development associated with effective school mental health care.

School Mental Health: What We Know and What We Need to Know. Olga Acosta Price for the Maternal and Child Health Audio-conference Series, December, 2009. This webinar presentation, conducted for private health funders, provides background on the development of school mental health programs and shares some best practices in addressing the mental health needs of vulnerable children and youth, especially culturally diverse students.

School-Based Health Centers: Policy and Practice. JG Lear on Web-based seminar sponsored by National Conference of State Legislatures, December 2005. An overview of state policies to guide SBHC development, and recent lessons from a grant initiative that expanded mental health and dental health services in schools,

School-Based Health Programs: What is the Role for Local Boards of Health?
A Ferebee, V. Caine, R. Stevens at the National Association of Local Boards of Health Annual Conference, New Orleans, LA, July 13, 2002.

Spotlight

At our weekly staff meeting on Wednesday, February 14 – Valentine’s Day – we spent considerable time brainstorming ideas for our next blog. Preparing for our presentation at the National Conference for Creating Trauma-Sensitive Schools that upcoming weekend and putting finishing touches on an article about child trauma to be published in March, led us to settle on a focus of trauma-informed school approaches. Read More